System and method for providing viral marketing service

Abstract

The present invention relates to so-called word-of-mouth or viral marketing that occurs through the use of a social network service (SNS) or the like in a wired/wireless Internet environment and has the objectives of: replacing existing search advertisement that involves relatively high advertising costs; and resolving the dissatisfaction of users due to dubious and abstract standards of compensating users who have participated in existing word-of-mouth or viral marketing and the dissatisfaction of advertisers whose advertisements are ineffective. To these ends, the present invention provides a system and method for providing a viral marketing service, which are capable of specifically calculating the levels of contribution of users through a service providing server and storing the order of recommendations of users, which forms the basis of advertising fund distribution, in a data schema format to make use of the stored order of recommendations, so as to thereafter raise the level of satisfaction of the users who have participated and also satisfy the advertisers through low advertising costs and an effective and systematic advertising service.

1 . A system for providing a viral marketing service, the system comprising:
 a wired or wireless network configured to transmit or receive data;   a user terminal of a user who participates in viral marketing;   an advertiser server configured to provide a landing page of an advertiser; and   a service providing server configured to provide a viral marketing service over the wired or wireless network, wherein   the service providing server comprises an advertisement module generation unit configured to generate an advertisement module, an advertisement module provision unit configured to provide the advertisement module, in which the landing page of the advertiser is included, to a terminal of a 1st user, a user authentication unit configured to authenticate the 1 st  user, a virtual URL issuing unit configured to issue a virtual URL to the authenticated 1 st  user, a valid click checking unit configured to check valid clicks from among activities of users (2 nd  to n th  users) to which a rumor is to be spread in the landing page of the advertiser, a storage unit configured to record or store the virtual URL, types of the activities of the users, and data on the activities, a rumor reliability calculation unit configured to calculate rumor reliability of the users by using the types of the activities of the users and the data on the activities, an advertising cost calculation unit configured to calculate an advertising cost distribution proportion through the calculated rumor reliability, and an advertising cost payment unit configured to pay advertising costs to users who trigger the valid clicks according to the advertising cost distribution proportion.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the advertisement module is provided to the user terminal as a separate page or placed at a portion of a screen of the user terminal, and has the form of a polygonal or circular button, a bar, or a layer surrounding the landing page of the advertiser,
 the advertisement module has a size or form that is adjustable by a user through a click or touch or a size or form that is not adjustable by the user,   the advertisement module is maintained in the form of a button or a bar and switched to a start rumor page and reversely switched when clicked,   the advertisement module includes a start rumor function associated with viral marketing in the form of word of mouth.   
     
     
         3 - 5 . (canceled) 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the start rumor function is available through a separate button or menu of the advertisement module, and the start rumor function is performed in linkage with a social network service (SNS) or an instant messenger service (IMS) or performed through the virtual URL. 
     
     
         7 . (canceled) 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the virtual URL includes a short URL or a tiny URL, and the virtual URL is stored in the storage unit after being issued and includes an address of the landing page of the advertiser and also layered structure information corresponding to recommendations of the users. 
     
     
         9 - 10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the activities of the 2nd to nth users include an action of opening a landing page of an advertiser that is recommended by a rumor started by the 1st user, an action of staying on the landing page of the advertiser for a certain time while viewing products, an action of joining the landing page, an action of purchasing a product, and an action of downloading an app. 
     
     
         12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein:
 the total number of clicks is a sum of the numbers of clicks through which the 2 nd  to n th  users open the landing page of the advertiser and which are triggered by the 1 st  user, the valid number of clicks is the number of clicks that are determined as valid activities of the 2 nd  to n th  users among the total number of clicks; and   whether a click is valid is determined by determining whether the click corresponds to any one of (i) a time for which the 2 nd  to n th  users stay on the landing page of the advertiser in a certain time range and (ii) an occurrence of an activity (a product purchase, an advertiser landing page member registration, and an app download) desired by the advertiser.   
     
     
         14 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the rumor reliability calculation unit reads the total number of clicks and the number of valid clicks from the storage unit to find the rumor reliability;   the rumor reliability is found by dividing the number of valid clicks by the total number of clicks;   reliability levels of the users are assigned as the rumor reliability; and   the advertising cost calculation unit calculates an advertising cost to be paid to the 1 st  user, who triggers a valid click, in addition to the rumor reliability.   
     
     
         17 - 19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a spreadability calculation unit configured to extract the number of times the 1 st  user spreads the rumor with respect to the start rumor function and calculate a rumor spreadability, wherein the rumor spreadability is found by dividing the total number of clicks by the number of times the 1st user spreads the rumor; and   an influence calculation unit configured to calculate a rumor influence by using the rumor reliability and the rumor spreadability, wherein:   the rumor influence is found by multiplying the rumor reliability by the rumor spreadability;   the rumor influence is calculated for each of the users and written as a list; and   the list is read from the service providing server according to a request from the advertiser.   
     
     
         21 - 24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the advertising cost payment unit pays the advertising cost calculated by the advertising cost calculation unit to the user or calculates an advertising cost in consideration of the rumor spreadability and the rumor influence and then pays the advertising cost to the user. 
     
     
         26 . A method of providing a viral marketing service, which is performed by a service providing server, the method comprising:
 generating an advertisement module in which a landing page of an advertiser is included and providing the generated advertisement module to a terminal of a 1st user;   authenticating the 1st user;   issuing a virtual URL to the authenticated 1st user;   checking valid clicks from among activities of users (2nd to nth users) to which a rumor is to be spread in the landing page of the advertiser;   recording or storing the virtual URL, types of the activities of the users, and data on the activities in a storage unit;   calculating rumor reliability of the users by using the types of the activities of the users and the data on the activities;   calculating an advertising cost distribution proportion through the calculated rumor reliability; and   paying advertising costs to users who trigger the valid clicks according to the calculated proportion, wherein   the total number of clicks is checked from the activities of the users, and the valid number of clicks is extracted from the total number of clicks.   
     
     
         27 - 50 . (canceled) 
     
     
         51 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein the advertising cost payment unit pays the advertising cost calculated by the advertising cost calculation unit to the user or calculates an advertising cost in consideration of the rumor spreadability and the rumor influence and then pays the advertising cost to the user.